


Through the eyes of the Starcutter

by ImmortalHK



Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-02-18 06:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21856609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImmortalHK/pseuds/ImmortalHK
Summary: The Lor is found and restored by a child of a race she thought long dead
Comments: 12
Kudos: 85





	1. Chapter 1

It all started when she was pulled out of Landia’s Volcano. Little mitted hands pulled at loose rock, chipped away at cooled magma and used weak magic to pull away boulders until she was free.

The lor Starcutter was free

Not entirely, though. She couldn’t fly. Her body battered and broken, her code a complete mess and her hardware completely unequipped to self repair any of it. Whoever had freed her may as well had kept her trapped.

Who had freed her?

It was a Herculean effort, but she managed to online a few small sensors that hadn’t been completely destroyed by magma. She was being marveled at and fretted over by a little grey... it couldn’t be, could it?

She had been rotting on the desolate wasteland that was Halcandra for so very long. Unspeakably long. She watched as her people died in their wars, as the lava took them to the west and the smog took them to the east. There was no exodus. They should all be  _ dead _ and yet…

There stood a young man, no older than sixteen, who, if her old sensors were correct, had nothing but ancient Halcandran blood. Who’s child was this? Why was he here?

The boy, who had light brown hair and dark brown skin. Who had bright yellow eyes- the most common color of his people. Who was clearly magically inclined but no doubt knew his way around a machine by how tactfully he had freed Lor, the boy that by all means  _ should not exist,  _ scanned the Lor and whistled.

“Great ancients! You’re in shambles, aren’t you? That monster’ll come kick me out soon, so we’ve got to get to the engines now. how to move you…” the boy- the miracle child- summoned up all his magic and  _ lifted  _ the Lor. That had to hurt! He clearly had talent, but one little mage couldn’t carry her all the way to the other end of the planet-

Suddenly she was dropped down onto something soft. Lots of little somethings. Those could  _ not  _ be what she thought they were!

“Good girls! You know the route, right? All the way to the big room in the engines. You know! Good girls~!” The boy gently pet a sphere doomer, ushering it down to the  _ countless  _ others that were under the Lor, and they started to  _ carry her. _ Just carry her! And the little Halcandran that could walked merrily ahead of them. He had  _ trained  _ a group of doomers all on his own. Unbelievable.

It was quiet as the Lor was walked all the way across Halcandra. It was also horribly bittersweet. So much of it was just  _ gone _ . What remained was In shambles, and none of those shambles showed any signs of life. The only things living were the vermin beneath her and the child happily humming to himself as he walked.

Eventually they made it to the ruins of one of the ancient factories. Lor was dumped into the large entryway and the doomers all swarmed her savior.

“Bad girls! Bad girls!! You could break something important like that! No treats!!”

They seemed to understand that. They all settled to the floor, looking upset. The boy pointed to another room. “ _ Go!  _ You get treats but you get them  _ later!” _

The doomers perked up and ambled into their holding room. 

“Hooo… sorry about that! Um… ship. You aren’t a person so I shouldn’t be talking like you are but, I dunno, feels weird to do all this in silence!” The boy started to wander around, looking at Lor from all angles. “The tome I found said that you’re the Lor Starcutter! I think it’s a nice name. Once you’ve been fixed up, you’ll look as good as your name sounds!” He gave the Lor’s hull a pat. “I’m Magolor! I’m apparently related to the people who built you.” He pulled out a box of supplies from somewhere, and took out a crowbar. “I found out that all my kind is dead- I was adopted on another planet, doesn’t matter which one, wasn’t well liked there. Heave!” He pried open her front door and if she had a mouth she would have shouted in pain. What happened to all that tact from before!? Of course, that probably was the only way to open that, she couldn’t access the controls to  _ any  _ of her doors.

“Anyway, I ran from home, creepy old guy told me I’m Halcandran, I didn’t believe him but once I started doing some research I realized it might be true!”

Magolor- an odd name- used his magic to gently toss out rocks and debris, he peeled away magma that had seeped in through the windows ages ago, burned away crawling, festering pests. Even still caked in dirt, Lor was feeling leagues better.

“Wild! This metal is ridiculously heat resistant to not melt with all this lava! Incredible… hmm..” Magolor rolled his head back, letting his grey hood fall back from his head. “I gotta clean all this!! I just wanna fix everything and play with the code and  _ fly _ I don’t wanna  _ work!!” _

He was just a kid.

He didn’t seem  _ that _ upset, though. He pulled in his box of supplies and set to sweeping out most of the dirt and dust, then mopping and scrubbing every inch of the Lor, being very careful of the electric components. He didn’t have to be, all Halcandran technology was thoroughly waterproofed, but she appreciated it. 

It took Magolor over eight hours of nonstop work, even with his magic. That would concern Lor if it didn’t feel  _ incredible. _ Once he was done he sprawled out on the sparkling white floor of the main control room and let out a loud groan.

“Staaaaaars!!!! That took forever!! And I had to throw out all the old burned up mattresses so I can’t even sleep here yet, Kill me…” Magolor ambled over to the Lor’s control panel. It wouldn’t be responsive yet, but he played with the buttons, as they somehow still managed to display color when pressed. “I wanna get you running, trust me I do! But I gotta work on your exterior first, or I’ll  _ never  _ do it.” He laughed softly. When was the last time she’d heard one of her people laugh? “I’m gonna go sleep now, Kay? You rest up too- we got a big day tomorrow!... should definitely stop talking to you like you’re a person.”

Magolor left the Lor and made his way to another part of the abandoned factory. Lor couldn’t believe it. She felt that she would reboot and be trapped, alone and rotting in a volcano, like her savior had never existed. This had to be a dream.

But if it wasn’t, the Lor Starcutter felt that she was in very good hands


	2. Chapter 2

It took Magolor two days to get the Lor looking the best she had in aeons.

It took him one year to get her functional enough to fly.

That time was spent cleaning up her internals, wrestling with ancient gearworks, and fumbling with her software for sleepless days and nights.

It was grueling. With every burst of bliss as she felt another tiny part of her body was put back in place, she was violently reminded of the cost as Magolor winced as gears pinched his hands, panted after struggling to place heavy parts back in their spots, startled as he started to nod off at the main console screen.

She couldn’t communicate with him. She couldn’t tell the poor boy to  _ stop. _ The only time he really did was on his 17th birthday. She only knew that because he’d told her. He told her and he ate a little cake he’d made using supplies he brought from wherever he was before here. He ate his cake, he wondered aloud about what his ancestors must have been like, and then he went to bed, without touching any of his work. That was an odd, bittersweet day.

It wasn’t long after that, when the Lor finally lurched upwards into the air and bumped onto the ceiling of the factory she was housed in.

“Oh my stars… OH MY STARS!!” Magolor jumped for joy! He laughed and spun around and-

Collapsed. Thank goodness that hood seemed to be padded.

Finally, the poor thing could truly rest. Lor had gained control over a lot more of her systems, and gently dimmed the lights. Enough for Magolor to get proper sleep without spooking him when he woke. 

Magolor woke up a concerningly long time later. Lor would have worried if he didn’t mumble in his sleep. He dragged himself up, wandered over to the control desk and started to work.

“You should eat something.” Lor wanted to say, but she simply couldn’t get herself together enough to bother. Managing non vital programs, like  _ any _ text editor, was still a long ways away for her. 

“Alrighty alrighty… let’s see if we can lap the engines, alright? If we can, I’ll try to make it a few planets out and get us some much needed provisions~”

The Starcutter was guided out of the building and, with a bit of fumbling, she flew up and around the old industrial district of Halcandra. The very place of her birth.

Magolor struggled with the controls, and Lor struggled with  _ everything,  _ it had simply been so long, but the trip was satisfactory. Magolor didn’t hesitate to head away from Halcandra and out into the stars.

Magolor babbled to himself as he got used to long distance navigation.

“Ohh, that’s what that says! I’m still so rusty with this ancient language.” He laughed to himself. “Ummm… okay, that should track our course. We’re headed to the planet Spire in the dewdrop Galaxy. There’s a library there that should have some more old books on the ancients… maybe it’ll give me my next goal! I’m sure there’s tons of stuff like you waiting to be found!” Magolor gave the Lor’s screen a pat. “So you’re on autopilot I…  _ hope. _ I’m gonna try to sleep this trip off. Night!”

~~

The trip to planet Spire wasn’t as long as Lor had feared. She still wished her warp drive wasn’t broken, the trip back would be a breeze if that were the case.

Magolor woke as soon as the ship landed, and took a moment to shake off his tiredness before rummaging through another box he’d brought and pulling out a small bag.

“Okay, okay… I’m gonna buy some things n’ check out those books I want. Don’t… do anything ancient and weird while I’m gone!”

She wouldn’t. She  _ couldn’t. _ But she could wonder about ancient and weird things.

Who were Magolor’s parents? There was a chance he could be the child of Halcandran’s that were cast out before the last of them died. Perhaps the Jamba cultists? 

She certainly  _ hoped not.  _ He didn’t seem religious at all, and none of those people would pass up on curating a new priest. It also wasn’t likely that they hadn’t died out on their own- let’s not think about any of that.

Perhaps some others  _ had _ survived? He was full blooded Halcandran- it had to be more than a soul survivor. Or- perhaps he was shipped away after birth, before his parents were burned away! No, he’s only seventeen. That’s a ridiculous thought-

_ He’s seventeen.  _ There must have been Halcandrans living for  _ generations.  _ How had it taken Lor so long to realize that? Who were these people? Where did they live and how close knit were they? The way Magolor speaks suggests that he’s never spoken to another Halcandran in his life.

Perhaps he wasn’t the last of his kind, but any others were light years away, with no way to contact them. That was an even lonelier thought.

What was this poor boy to do?

She mulled over that thought for a long while, and before she knew it, it was well after midnight and Magolor was dragging in a bunch more boxes.

“Okay, stayed out later than I should have! But I’ve got a mattress so there’s that.”

Magolor fitted the bed in the room he had decided was his own, he got himself fluffy pillows and a thick comforter. He also got cheaper sets for three of the other rooms, did he intend to keep guests? How much money did he have and where did he get it?

Magolor stocked up the refrigerator with all sorts of foods that Lor couldn’t identify. He also placed a small box near the burners. 

All and all it took Magolor until  _ two in the morning  _ for him to stop bloating Lor with all the things he’d need to live, and then he had the audacity to sit himself back at the control desk.

“I should try to fix up some of your program files before bed…”

Lor force shut down her display.  _ Go to sleep young man. _

“Eh…? Stars… I’ll figure out what happened in the morning…”

Magolor grumbled, But got the hint and started preparing for bed.

  
Lor had no idea what Magolor had  _ planned  _ for her, other than scouring Halcandra for more artifacts. As she watched him sleepily amble through his nightly routine, she decided a future of helping the last known Halcandran not exhaust himself to death beat rotting away herself by a long shot


	3. Chapter 3

Magolor idled on Planet Spire as he wrestled with the ancient text in whatever massive book he’d brought from the library. He was teaching himself the old language and, once again, Lor couldn’t help him.

He wasn’t a lost cause, though. He fumbled with most words, but he tackled paragraphs he found important with determination. He’d worked his way through tales of the galactic comet NOVA, and the deadly man it kept within, he improved considerably when he made his way through the chapters on Halcandra’s culture, namely the unofficial segregation between mages and mechanics. Lor was proud of him when he wondered aloud how something like that could happen. “Just learn both! I did!” It wasn’t as black and white as that, but it was nice to hear such a sentiment after so much time.

It was during this long stretch of translation that Lor found out how Magolor made his money. He would take on odd jobs, or work the occasional shift at the library he borrowed that book on Halcandra from. Most of his earnings were from repair work. He would take in whatever broken machines or appliances the people of Spire needed fixed and would knock them out in under a day. From the sound of it, he charged a steep price, but was the only thing keeping these people from needing to buy a new item altogether. Lor shuddered to think of what cold blooded business people had raised her child-

Her child?

_ This child _ . 

Could he still be called a child? They had been here for quite some time, his eighteenth wasn’t that far away at this point.

“Ooh!” One night, while taking a break from repairing some woman’s microwave, Magolor jumped from his book and started pulling up a map of Halcandra. “Incredible, amazing, what if it really works!?” He plotted out a route, but didn’t set course, seeming to begrudgingly recall that he had things to do on Spire. “Ahahahah~ I knew it! Obviously there were more things like you left on Halcandra!” He patted one of the Lor’s walls. “The master crown, all that power without the annoying conditions of that wish-granting comet. Think of what I could do!”

If Lor had blood it would have gone cold. 

“I could restore Halcandra! I could bring back the ancients, I could ask them  _ questions! _ My homeland could be the amazing capital of the galaxy it used to be, and I could make sure whatever caused it to fall could never happen again!”

These were dangerous thoughts. The Lor was so happy to see Magolor taking such an interest in their shared home that he hadn’t even  _ considered  _ him going after such a dangerous artifact. 

Lor was in a panic as Magolor finished all his work. He fixed all the odd machines he had been given, returned the book on Halcandra, disappointed that all it had was descriptions of ancient artifacts and very surface level descriptions of its people.

She had no idea how to stall him. She could cut off navigation, she could cut off  _ everything _ , but Magolor wasn’t stupid. He would work out what was wrong eventually.

Lor simply let him go.

The trip back to Halcandra felt considerably faster than the trip from. Magolor circled the Volcanic Badlands and landed close to Lor’s original resting place. He was going to go after the crown all on his own.

Lor tried to make him reconsider, she flashed warning signs and error pop ups and whatever else she could, but Magolor dismissed it all as a minor malfunction he could fix once he returned.

Magolor was going to die.

~~

The master crown was said to lie in the heart of the volcanic region of Halcandra. The map drawn in his history book was far from accurate to the modern day ruins, but he had a good idea of where that was now. 

There was a massive structure close to the volcano the Starcutter was lodged in, that just  _ had  _ to be it.

There was an obstacle, of course, the massive dragon that had a problem with Magolor taking the Starcutter the first time he came. It no doubt would want to guard the crown as well, but if Magolor was quiet and fast he could swipe it without an issue!

He approached carefully, peeking into the cave that housed his prize. The dragon was asleep on a pile of other treasures that meant nothing to Magolor. Atop its head, shining and calling out to him, was the master crown! He carefully floated along the ground- not trusting his heavy boots to not Wake the dragon up- and hovered with his hands just over the shining crown. The beast’s four heads were all deep in sleep. He could do this. It was for the greater good!

A hot huff of breath from one head’s nose. Magolor froze and suddenly the beast was fully awake and attacking. It whipped around and used one of its tails to smack Magolor so hard against the cave wall he saw stars. He fumbled towards the exit, loopy.

“I-it isn’t yours to begin with!  _ My _ ancestors made it so it’s-“

A loud roar and Magolor was scrambling away from a torrent of fire.

“ _ I’m trying to save this planet you dumb-!“ _ something big and sharp and  _ fast _ whirled dangerously close to his head and Magolor realized it was in his best interest to  **leave.** He struggled to find his footing as the pain in his head started to catch up with him. The Lor was blurry and the dragon was hot on his tail. The door opened- how? He still couldn’t get the automatic function of the doors to work. He always needed to pry it a bit- there was no time to think about that!

Magolor flew into the ship and turned to push the door back in place, but it was already closed- had the ship fixed itself? He hurried to the control panel to find the ship already putting itself on autopilot, not only that, a new program was opening up- full of new words that Magolor couldn’t parse.

Before Magolor could even make the attempt at figuring out what was going on, a huge portal opened up in front of the Lor, and it swallowed the ship up. Magolor was now in some place in the galaxy he couldn’t immediately recognize- not that he could recognize much of anything at the moment. Magolor was hurt and exhausted and  _ confused. _

He stumbled into the control seat and looked at the Lor’s now empty and innocuous home screen.

“...How did you do that?”

Magolor passed out then and there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought I forgot about this? It’s cause I did-


	4. Chapter 4

“Stars, stars stars _by the STARS!”_

Magolor hit his hands on the Lor’s control board- ouch.

“What do I do what do I _DO?_ This hunk of ancient JUNK has no proper weaponry- or it most likely _does_ but I don’t know how to _access_ any of it yet, I don’t have strong enough magic to take that behemoth on myself and anyone who could help me would no doubt only cause more trouble down the line!” Magolor stormed into the kitchen, tearing open a bag of snacks he got on planet Spire. “That things supposed to protect Halcandrans! _I’m Halcandrans!_ How am I supposed to restore my planet if the thing with the power to do that is out of reach!?” He heaved a sigh. “I don’t even know where I am…”

Lor watched as the boy dragged himself to her control desk. “You could have kept us closer to Halcandra y’know… okay, I’m done whining, where is this… sunny side Galaxy? Where’s _that?_ Near the _gamble_ Galaxy? I’ve never heard of- where’s Spire? Where’s _Halcandra!?”_

Magolor flitted through pages of information, squinting as he tried to read his coordinates. “Location, sunny side, planet pomelo- star system unknown? D-does that say _dimension unknown!?”_ Magolor was on his feet, eyes wide. “Are you telling me I’m not in the same _dimension anymore!?”_

That was very much the case, the short range warp drive was still repairing itself. This was the only option. Magolor looked on the brink of fainting. He sat back down in a daze. “There’s local pings that indicate location- kind of amazing this ship can detect them…. ok, no need to panic, clearly dimension…. _Shifting_ or whatever is a feature! It can be un-done if I learn to read more of the menus.” Lor relaxed as she watched Magolor settle down a bit. “But now I’m back where I started, too weak to take the crown and not knowledgeable enough to use you.” Magolor patted the ship. “Oh well, my mood sucks now and I don’t want to land just yet… let’s look around where you brought me.”

The Lor was turned out towards the Gamble Galaxy, and Magolor decided it would do him some good to practice manual navigation.

The trip was short and pleasant, Magolor was handling the ship well and, to stave off boredom, was humming a happy little tune to himself. Once they crossed into Gamble, he settled on an empty looking planet, a dark place that looked like it was made of stardust.

“Let’s rest here, I wanna eat and then get some sleep.” Magolor gathered up some cheap looking food from the kitchen and took it into the upper deck of the ship. He looked out over the little planet they landed on. “Planet half moon is what the ping read… it’s pretty…” Magolor looked out into the distance, a cookie between his teeth… which he suddenly bit into, letting half of it fall to the floor. 

Magolor leaned over the deck, squinting. “Is someone out there? Is- is that a _child!?_ ” He jumped off and floated to the ground, before running just out of the Lor’s sensor range. When he returned he was carrying a small, skinny boy in his arms. He shimmied the door open and set the child down gently.

The child was somewhere in his early teens, with lavender hair and sickly pale skin. He wore a red and blue jester's cap and was wearing red-blue clothes that clearly didn’t fit. The most notable thing was the balance ball he was squeezing in his arms.

“Stars, an hour in a new dimension and I’m saving half-dead kids… you’re out cold, but breathing…” Magolor gently took the ball away and kicked it into a corner, then he picked the boy back up and tucked him into one of the guest beds. “Who knows how long you were out here… your parents leave you too?” He patted the child’s head. “You could have gotten sick or something… I’ll make you some soup when you’re up.” He left and pulled the door closed behind him. Then, Magolor took out his tome, settled at the control desk and set to work. It was clear he wasn’t letting any developments steer him away from getting back to Halcandra and taking the master crown.

The Lor could only pray that determination didn’t get him hurt.

~~

“ _Where am I?”_

The child Magolor picked up was glaring standing in the control room entrance, glaring so fiercely at him that the Lor was worried he was trying to light him on fire.

“Oh!” Magolor jumped from his work and turned to the boy. “Hello there! I’m glad to see you’re not too hurt to walk, when I found you outside I was super worried so-“

“ **_Where am I?”_ **

Magolor was stunned for a moment. “I, um, you’re still on planet Half moon, on my ship, the Lor Starcutter! I found you passed out, so I let you sleep here. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah.”

“I have some soup simmering in the other room, want some bread to tide you over?”

“Sure…”

Magolor was smiling behind his hood as he gave the child a little bun, before pulling it down and biting into his own. The kid practically inhaled his. Magolor quietly gave him another.

“How long have you been here? Why were you out there all alone?”

“Hm?” The boy swallowed a mouthful of bread. “Was floating in space- long story, landed there n’ fell asleep.”

“W-well where’s your home?”

“Can’t go back, no one wants me there. Who are you anyway? Don’t look like you live here.”

“Oh, my name is Magolor! I hail from a very far away planet called Halcandra. I’m um, traveling the universe while I try to translate ancient text from my home. What’s your name?”

“Sounds boring. I’m Marx. I’m from Popstar, but I don’t want to go back, everyone on that planet is a total idiot anyway. You’re getting out of this system, right?”

“Oh, of course! I suppose you’re asking for a lift?”

“Someplace with good food.”

Magolor laughed softly. “I’m new here, so I don’t know what the food is like, but if I land on a planet you like you can leave. You can stay in the guest room until then.”

“Deal.”

“Speaking of, the soup should be ready, be right back…”

Magolor left for the kitchen and, just as expected from an antsy kid, Marx waltzed over to the open tome on the control board.

“Hey hey… this is all just scribbles! How _boring_ I hoped it was a diary- Oh?” Marx flipped through the pages until- “ _what the hell?_ That’s galactic NOVA! Why’s this foreign weirdo got this foreign weird book with pictures of-“

“ _Snooping in other people’s things is mean, y’know.”_

“Eek!” Marx whipped around to see Magolor setting two big bowls of soup down on the table they were sharing. “I-I just got curious is all!” He strode over to his bowl and started downing the contents.

“Before you ask, I can only read about half of it. I’m sure nothing in it would be fun for you anyway.”

“Whatever.” Marx downed his soup, then the bread that came with it, then eagerly drank the water last. Magolor had barely eaten half his bowl when the boy started asking for more. Magolor complied and topped off both of their bowls.

“So you’re a runaway, right? What caused that?”

“People on my home planet are a bunch of morons, I told you. They act all happy and peaceful but it’s because they’re stupid, and they’re not as nice as they think, it’s super fake and I’m tired of it so I’m not going back!”

Magolor hummed, as if what this child was saying was making _sense_ to him, which Lor couldn’t believe. If a child on Halcandra was this rude they would be dangled by a rope over the nearest volcano until they apologized!

“People are awful all over the universe, the people who took care of me were pretty awful too.”

“You ran away?” Marx asked through a mouthful of crackers, Magolor had given him a pack with his second bowl of soup.

“More like I aged out of their care. They weren’t my birth parents, so once I could leave I decided to start learning about my real home. That’s why I’m on this adventure.” Magolor took one of Marx’s hands and smiled. “Maybe I’ll find you a place to call home too. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Marx pulled his hand away. “Yeah, sure. I’m done eating. I wanna go back to sleep.”

“Take a shower first, bathroom’s at the end of the hall where your bedroom is. I’ll wash your clothes, you can wear one of my cloaks until tomorrow, okay?”

“Right…”

Marx did as he was told, and eventually Magolor was back at the control desk like nothing happened.

“Okay, actual next steps… find a place to restock on food. Should buy that kid some new clothes. Should buy _myself_ some new clothes…” Magolor let out a sigh. “Then work on figuring out the warp drive. I can’t _believe_ this setback!” He tabbed a few pages of text he’d been tackling and then set the Lor into sleep mode. “Night big girl. Maybe we can figure all this out tomorrow.”

Magolor went to bed on his own, and that was enough to let Lor rest easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me @ Myself: where are you going with this


	5. Chapter 5

Figuring out the warp drive turned out to be quick work for Magolor- when he was able to  _ do  _ said work of course.

After getting out of the Gamble Galaxy as soon as possible, per Marx’s request, the two stopped on a planet called Ripple star to stock up on supplies. A seamstress had given Magolor and Marx several new pairs of clothes in return for Magolor fixing several of her appliances, most importantly her busted sewing machines. Magolor now wore a bright blue and white cloak, in the same style as his old. Marx has teased him for wearing “boring” clothing before, so now Lor had to watch her last child dowse traditional attire with garish bright colors. A pity.

Short range warps were repaired, and that breakthrough had Magolor working on the dimensional drive with vigor. Marx was an easily bored and hungry child though, so he was often dragged from his work to get food, or the two would simply wander off and make mischief.

Marx was a performer, somewhat, doing tricks on his balance ball to impress people and gain money in turn. He more  _ often  _ used his time off of the ship to pull pranks on people though, and Magolor would often help him up high places to drop things on people below, or set thumbtacks on public benches. The two would come back giggling.

That brat was a bad influence.

The brat was also inquisitive.

“Hey hey, remind me what we’re planet hopping for again?” Marx asked through a mouthful of syrup drenched pancakes.

Magolor set to dowsing his own stack. He was a surprisingly competent cook, but rarely bothered with anything very impressive. “We’re really just surviving until I can work out how to get back to my home. After that…” he took a bite and tapped his cheek in thought. “I can’t go for the crown again… I think I’ll settle somewhere stable and see if this thing has weapons…”

“Woah hey hey!!” Marx piped, and Magolor covered his mouth, fully aware that he’d said too much to the wrong person. “I’ve been here for a while and this is the first time I’ve heard about  _ weapons! _ What kinda fun are you up to~?” The child had a wide, eager grin on his face.

“I don’t plan to  _ use  _ the weapons for  _ anything  _ but defense!”

“Please, I  _ invented  _ lying. You aren’t any good.”

Magolor deflated a bit. “I want to launch an assault on some ugly dragon on my home planet.”

“ _ A dragon!” _

“Yeah, Landia’s the name. It’s protecting one of the most valuable artifacts my people left behind.”

“Wait, you’re doing all this for money?” Marx tilted his head with a mouthful of pancake.

“Of  _ course  _ not! There’s easier ways to do  _ that.  _ The master crown has  _ power. _ ”

Marx perked up. The Lor wished she could have put a stop to the conversation there somehow.

“How much power? Take over a whole planet power? Um, like, as a ballpark estimate?”

Magolor shook his head. “The master crown could take over a  _ universe. _ But I’m not trying to take a planet over, I’m trying to bring one  _ back!  _ My people were wiped out by…  _ something.  _ It could have been that ‘Galacta Knight’ figure in the books.” It wasn’t. “ could have been a natural disaster or something- really I can’t find a good source- but I know the Crown can restore Halcandra, and bring back its people.”

“Why not wish for it on NOVA? Seems safer.”

“I thought of that, but the books claim they booted NOVA out of my dimension after locking up Galacta Knight. Thanks for confirming  _ this _ is that dimension, but even if we could make a wish, we only get  _ one.  _ With no ands or buts. Either bring the Halcandrans back with no planet to live on or restore Halcandra with no people. What’s the point? This way I can do both!”

Marx smiled, with a glint in his eye. “You’d be like the king of the planet after that, right~?”

“Eheheh, not really, I’m sure they already had a system for that stuff in the first place, but whoever holds the crown  _ is  _ very powerful!”

Marx hummed. “... cool. I’m bored now, gonna read in my room!”

Marx finished his food and ran off, leaving Magolor to clean up.

“What a bizarre kid.”

Magolor washed the syrupy dishes and settled himself at the control desk. He let himself back into a work trance as he wandered through files and code and bugs and  _ finally- _

“Long range warp drive online!!” Magolor jumped in delight. “Now let’s go home-“ Magolor started, but settled himself back in his seat. “I have coordinates set, but if this goes wrong I think I’ll cry. We’ll try tomorrow, let’s work on something else today…”

Magolor spent the rest of the day fixing whatever minor bugs he had the language capabilities to handle. Lor was thankful for another day of safe normalcy, but it was only a matter of time before Magolor went after that crown again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been like forever jeez-


	6. Chapter 6

After the jump between dimensions was made, the first thing Lor registered was the shrill voice of Marx from down the hall.

“WHAT WAS THAT?? You could have made me have a heart attack you stupid weirdo!!”

What a little demon.

“G’mornin’ to you too, Marx. Hope eggs are alright for breakfast.” Magolor was shuffling through navigational tabs, trying to figure out where the generated wormhole had just spit them all out. Lor finally had enough wherewithal to throw him a bone, forcing the cursor to focus on the nearest planet, Crestfall.

“I wanna know what just ripped me out of my sleep!”

“We warped.”

“We’ve warped before and it never caused all that noise!”

Magolor couldn’t contain a giddy giggle at that. “We warped between dimensions! If I’m reading this right we’re a Galaxy away from Halcandra! I’m back on track!!”

Marx winced as if looking at Magolor so excited was like staring too long at the sun. “Planet with the dragon? We’re going after that already?”

“Well, no, not until I work out weapons. But soon! I can taste it!”

Marx yawned. “I’m gonna taste breakfast. No more loud noises!”

Marx stormed into the kitchen to eat what was left of the toast and eggs Magolor had made. The two had formed a bit of a routine, with Magolor getting up early, cooking for two and then leaving the rest for whenever Marx decided to roll out of bed.

Lor would have found it sweet if the circumstances were different.

As it was she decided to focus on Magolor setting up autopilot. Crestfall wasn’t too far off, so he decided against fast travel and started pulling up documents. He was clunkily translating an old candy recipe when Marx, still with Toast crumbs on his cheeks, ambled into the room again.

“So what’s our plan if we’re not getting that crown thing?”

Magolor perked up and turned to the child. “The plan for you is to find you a safe place to live. Don’t worry, we’re going back to your dimension for that.” If Magolor saw Marx roll his eyes, he didn’t acknowledge it. “But first I want more Books. Most of what I have are written by travelers and historians visiting Halcandra, but something other than these logs, actually written by my ancestors? Imagine how useful that would be!”

Marx nodded, visibly not listening. “Yeah, Cool, so you said this crown has the power to take over the universe? You were exaggerating, right?”

Magolor laughed. “Nope! From what I can read, the thing lets the wearer dominate planets with a flick of the wrist!” Marx looked close to salivating. The Lor suddenly felt sick. “But I’m not interested in using it for anything like that, I want to restore the planet, and if it’s that powerful I think it’ll be more than enough.”

“If they had all that power, why’d they die out? Shouldn’t they be like a thriving empire now? They should have this whole place under their thumbs.”

Magolor recoiled. “They were powerful but they weren’t colonizers! In fact I think it was the opposite, they were constantly fighting off attacks so they needed some bite to go with their bark.”

“How d’you know that?”

“I….” a sharp clasp of the hands. “Don’t. But it’s all that makes sense, right?”

Marx nodded and yawned. “I’m going back to bed. Get weapons back online soon. I wanna see a dragon get blown up!”

Magolor waited to hear the door to Marx’s room slide shut before he settled in front of the Lor’s screen. “What a strange kid.”

Much to Lor’s dismay, that strange kid had convinced Magolor to start rummaging through weapons files again. Hopefully he would hit another brick wall before reaching planet Crestfall, the Lor didn’t have proper weaponry, and the sooner Magolor confirmed that the sooner he’d start looking for other methods.

She prayed he would come to his senses before he found one that would work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick conversation to get back in the groove
> 
> ..... as if I’ve ever been in any kind of groove-


	7. Chapter 7

The leisurely road to Crestfall was filled up with Magolor flipping through old texts and files at Lor’s front desk. Occasionally he would feed and entertain Marx, but he seemed more than capable of caring for himself. The child had labeled Magolor uninteresting and mostly spent his time in his room, reading his own books and practicing tricks.

Magolor’s research was meandering. He would start flipping through old mechanics logs, get stuck on a word he didn’t recognize and spend hours elsewhere trying to figure it out. He would get lost in some old traveler’s accounts of Halcandra’s culture and daydream while scrolling through nothing in particular once he was finished.

Lor encouraged Magolor’s scatterbrained wandering. She knew she was delaying the inevitable, but she was praying she’d be able to push this moment back just a  _ bit longer- _

“Self defense protocols…. that’s  _ got to be weapons!  _ why is this stuffed all the way in this random crew mate’s personal files…?”

Because that old crew mate was a magician. The only way to defend the Lor was to use-

“Magic…” Magolor muttered as he squinted at the text on screen, as if he was simply reading it wrong and the words would say something else in time. Even with his limited understanding of the language, he knew spells when he saw them. “Damn…”

“Oooooooh! I’m telling!” Marx shouted from across the room, mouth full of cookies. He sprayed crumbs down onto the otherwise flawless floor. Lor tried not to rattle with disgust.

“Shut up- I’ve got bad news, the only way to activate any kind of offense in this thing is with magic.”

Marx cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t you  _ know  _ magic?”

“I do, but I split myself between magic, engineering and- whatever all  _ this  _ is.” Magolor gestured to the open tabs on screen. “I’m not strong enough to pull these off. Pass me that pen and paper over there? I wanna at least have these jotted down”

Magolor scribbled down the spells, and Marx looked up at the screen.

“What’s the magic and what’s just talking?”

Magolor grinned as he finished a line.

“Well, the easy way to tell is the same way you do in Common- y’know how spells and important text is always surrounded by brackets?”

Marx nodded, popping another butter cookie into his mouth.

“In Halcandra’s language, you separate important text with these long lines, see? They’re bolder than anything else. The language also looks a little different-but you don’t know the base language so I can’t explain that as well.”

“Don’t you also not really know the language?”

Magolor rolled his eyes. “I know enough. Now stop stuffing yourself or I won’t cook later, last thing we need is for you to make yourself sick before we hit Crestfall… Crestfall!” Magolor lit up, suddenly lumping to his feet, making Marx jump back and almost drop the box of Cookies.

“What’s your problem!?”

“I know a girl! On Crestfall! We were friends back in the orphanage and when she got adopted she was sent  _ here!  _ Her dream was to become a witch, and she’s just as stubborn as I am, there’s no way she’s not strong enough!”

Marx wandered over to a chair closer to the front entrance. “How do we know she’s still here? Or where to find her…?”

“I’ll never forget the names of the couple who took her- she should be ‘Freyen McDoo’ still! If she’s gone I can just ask her family what happened- I’m sure there’s a directory or something.”

Marx snorted. “That’s the dumbest last name I’ve ever heard!”

Magolor laughed just as easily. “She  _ cried  _ to me over it. Total laughingstock. Makes you glad to not have one. Still! It’s distinct! We look for her when we land, there’s no way she’ll turn down a favor for an old friend!” He plucked the box of cookies from Marx and started for the kitchen.

“HEY!”

“Quiet, I’m about to cook!”

The two left, leaving Lor alone covered in cookie crumbs and books.

She shouldn’t have let him copy those runes, if he really did have a powerful magician waiting on Crestfall, if he  _ could  _ take down Landia…

She didn’t want to think about it. She prayed he would turn up with nothing, and he’d continue to live peacefully- if a bit disappointed, on the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re am I GOING WITH THIS🎶


End file.
